Alloy



Patented Aug. 16, 1927.

UNITED STATES LOUIS JORDAN AND GEORGE WILLARD PATENT OFFICE.

QUICK, 0] WASHINGTON, DISTRICT 01 CO- LUMBIA, ASSIGNORS TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY OF COMM ?ItGE.

ALLOY.

(GRANTED UNDER THE ACT OF This application having been made pursuant to the provisions of the act of March 3, 1883 (ch. 143, 22 Stat. L., 625), we hereby declare that this invention may be used pursuant to the terms of said act reading as follows: Provided, That the applicant in his application shall state that the invention described therein, if patented, may be used by the Government, or any of its oflicers or employees in prosecution of work for the Government, or by any other person in the United States, without the payment to him of any royalty thereon, which stipulation shall be included-in the patent.

Our invention relates to alloys of iron, carbon and vanadium, and has for its object to produce such alloys having great hardness combined with-malleability and toughness, and which can be further hardenedby suitable heat treatment without becoming brittle, and still further hardened by cold working after hardening by heat treatment.

A further object of our invention is to provide an alloy which is suitable for the preparation of balls for use in measuring the Brinell hardness of extremely hard steels, or for other uses.

Iron-carbon-vanadium alloys pursuant to our invention contain much larger roportions of carbon than alloys ordinarily designated as steels, and also contain much larger proportions of vanadium than what are known as vanadinmtsteels. Pursuant to our invention, our alloys may contain from approximately 2 to 4 percent carbon, and from approximately 10 to 15 per cent vanadium, together with comparatively small amounts of the impurities or deoxiderizers usually present in commercial ferrous alloys, such as manganese, sulphur, silicon and phosphorus. 1

As an illustrative example of our invention, we give the following:

Per cent. Carbon 2. 93 Vanadium 13. 5 Manganese 10 Sulphur .016 Silicon 1. Iron, balance to 100 The carbon and vanadium to the proper 27, 1926. Serial No. 157,433.

MARCH 3, 1883; 22 STAT. L. 625.)

amounts are incorporated with the iron in the usual way of making such alloys.

It will be understood that the proportions above given are not to be taken as restrictive or limiting, but' as only one example- The proportions of the vanadium and carbon may be varied within the approximate limits above stated.

lVe have found that alloys of the above compositions may be given greatly increased hardness by suitable heat treatment. For example, quenching such alloy from temperatures between 850 to 925 C. and tempering at 100 C. produces a met-a1 of greater hardness than ordinary high carbon quenched steel-s. Still further hardness may be produced in such quenched and tempered alloys by cold working, as for example, by cold working of quenched and tempered balls of these alloys by the well known method of work hardening balls, described by Hultgren (Jour. Iron and Steel Inst, 1921, No. II, pa e 183).

1 lloys produced in accordance with our invention possess also toughness and malleability, and do not become brittle or short by the further hardening treatments described.

What we claim is 1. An iron alloy containing from approximately 2 to approximately 4 per cent carbon, and from approximately 10 to approximately 15 per cent vanadium.

2. An iron alloy containing substantially 3' per cent carbon and substantially 13.5 per cent vanadium.

3. An iron vanadium-carbon alloy containing from approximately 2 to approximately 4: per cent carbon, and from approximately 10 to approximately 15 per cent vanadium and having the characteristics of great hardness combined with toughness and malleability and which is susceptible of further hardening without becoming brittle by heatin and quenching and which may be still furt er hardened by cold working after such heat treatment.

LOUIS JORDAN. GEORGE WILLARD QUICK. 

